How can we broaden the fields of observation of reality? Contemporary art and experimental film are possible ways in that they disturb our assumptions and allow a distance for the observer. Tools or processes used by visual artists and filmmakers - pen camera, looping, fast or slow movements, multiple screens, networking surveillance cameras - question our understanding of the world. These news visions encourage the observers as anthropologists, to change the shape of their stories.

During the 1940s and 1950s, artist and ethnographer Maya Deren researched the practical and theoretical implications of the filmed image. She suggested that it is not enough to save the appearances of the world through film. The filmmakers must subject themselves to restore their double vision through multiple sensory experiences. Similarly, other artists and anthropologists argue that the optical perception of the world is not sufficient, as one has to consider how its formal qualities mingle with acoustic, haptic, olfactory, and gustatory sensations.

The representation of lived time is another field of investigation. Anthropologists, who wonder how to stay closer to the complexity of lived time in the field, look to offer new forms of restitution, while experimental artists, who struggle against the compression of narrative time, set up elements for a new foundation of an increased sensitivity to the real.

Anthropology, art and experimental film question our perception. To see is also to understand. This conference attempts to renew visual testing protocols in order to amplify our understanding of the world.